Two years ago, at the age of 16, Jillian Kirby began a campaign designed to honor the legacy of her late grandfather, Jack Kirby, the comics legend who created or co-created a host of iconic Marvel characters — Captain America, the Fantastic Four, X-Men, the Avengers and Thor, among them. Titled Kirby4Heroes, the charitable venture was launched to generate donations for the Hero Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping comic book creators in need, offering assistance to artists and writers. Once again, this year Kirby is hoping to raise money while celebrating the wide-ranging influence of the artistry of her grandfather, who dreamed up many of his heroes in the basement of his Long Island home. (Jillian’s father, Neal Kirby, wrote a first-person account of his childhood in the house for Hero Complex in 2012.) On Aug. 28 — what would have […]

A little over a year ago, Mark Ruffalo took to Twitter to dispel rumors of a stand-alone Hulk film. “A lot of folks have been asking about the Next Hulk. The next time you see my Hulk it will be in the Avengers2. No plans for stand alone.” Ruffalo then added, “I am not giving up on another stand alone HULK. But it’s not in the works right now. One never knows what the future will bring.” Today, it seems as if the future of a new “Hulk” movie may be one step closer, as Ruffalo told Digital Spy that Marvel Studios has made the project a consideration. “I think they are, for the first time, entertaining the idea of it,” he said. PHOTOS: The Hulk at 50: We love him when he’s angry “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the follow-up to […]

Marvel is sending some of its most famous characters into the future this summer. The comics giant unveiled plans Saturday at Chicago’s C2E2 convention for a limited run of five 100th Anniversary Special issues of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Fantastic Four,” “The Avengers,” “The X-Men” and “Spider-Man.” The one-shot issues will arrive weekly in July, hypothesizing what shape the characters’ adventures will take in the year 2061. “We thought that it would be a really fun idea to … almost treat these like time capsules from the future,” said Marvel editor Nick Lowe in an interview with Hero Complex. “We were talking about how we’d just been through a bunch of 50th anniversaries — we had the 50th anniversary of the Fantastic Four a few years ago, we had the 50th anniversary of the Avengers and the X-Men last […]

In his current position as movie chief at Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige might rank as one of the most envied men in Hollywood right now. The company has enjoyed a nearly unmatched run of box office success stretching back to the release of 2008’s “Iron Man” and appears poised to celebrate a new record-breaking opening with the arrival of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” this week. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the new film takes place months after the events depicted in “Avengers” and opens with Steve Rogers having remained in the employ of international espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and occasionally teaming with Black Widow on key missions. After an attack on S.H.I.E.L.D. top dog Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) puts the hero in conflict with the organization’s leader, Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford in a key supporting turn), he finds […]

The Avengers are assembling in Italy. Filming is underway in Europe on “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and new photos from the production showcase Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver, as well as Jeremy Renner back in costume as Hawkeye. Also pictured is writer-director Joss Whedon. (Click through the gallery above for a look at the production.) Whedon’s follow-up to his $1-billion-plus 2012 hit, “The Avengers,” will see the iconic team of heroes gather once more to battle the villainous Ultron (James Spader). It’s unclear how closely the film will tie to the “Age of Ultron” story in Marvel Comics, or whether Ant-Man (the protagonist in another upcoming Marvel film, directed by Edgar Wright) will be part of the film. In the comics, Ultron is an insane, sentient robot that tries to destroy its creator, Dr. Henry […]

“The Avengers” are expanding their global itinerary — Joss Whedon’s anticipated sequel “Avengers: Age of Ultron” will shoot key scenes in South Korea, Marvel announced Tuesday. The film shoot will be based in London at the country’s venerable Pinewood-Shepperton facility, the same sound stages that played host to Marvel’s recent hit “Thor: The Dark World.” But the international production schedule for “Avengers: Age of Ultron” also will include stops in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Aosta Valley, Italy, with additional locations to be announced. Whedon’s follow-up to his $1-billion-plus 2012 hit, “The Avengers,” will see the iconic team of heroes gather once more to battle the villainous Ultron (James Spader). (Click through the gallery above for a look at what Robert Downey Jr. and other members of the “Avengers” cast had to say about working with Whedon.) It’s unclear how closely […]

2013 was a superb year for fans of genre entertainment. Major comic book heroes celebrated milestone anniversaries, as did “Doctor Who.” “The Walking Dead” and “Game of Thrones” continued to demonstrate that fantastic tales, both grim and transporting, can make for compelling, compulsory viewing. Dragons, female warriors and Tom Hiddleston stormed the multiplex in blockbuster fashion, while next-generation gaming consoles arrived, just in time for Christmas. There was plenty of big news about 2015 projects as well — namely, that J.J. Abrams will direct the first live-action “Star Wars” film since 2005, and that Ben Affleck will take over the role of Batman from Gotham City’s previous Caped Crusader, Christian Bale. Following are the Hero Complex picks for some of the most memorable moments in film, TV, comic books and games, in no particular order. Feel free to share your […]

[Updated 7 a.m. PDT Oct. 12 with images from All-New Marvel Now announcements.] In continuing Marvel’s weekend of All-New Marvel Now reveals, executive editor Tom Brevoort wasted no time during the “Avengers” comics panel Friday at New York Comic Con. Cheerily breezing through what’s going on in existing books and announcing upcoming titles and events — with brief comments from writers and editors — in just about 17 minutes (by contrast, the House of Ideas’ earlier big panel Friday, for X-Men books, took about 45 minutes for a similarly robust slate), Brevoort, saying the panels belong to the readers, turned things over to audience questions for the rest of the hour. So, in the same spirit, here are the big reveals: — The title from writer Rick Remender and artists Pascal Alixe and Nic Klein that had been code-named “Mindbubble” […]

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy proposed a joint U.S.-Russia mission to the moon, the Rolling Stones had their first tour (opening for Bo Diddley and the Everly Brothers) and the United States performed dozens of nuclear tests in Nevada. If historians had been taking note, they might have seen how (er, whether?) these events helped lead Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to create the Avengers that year. There are other reasons — chief among them a desire to compete against rival DC Comics’ team book Justice League of America — but the team’s creation was groundbreaking (to comics fans). September marked the 50th anniversary of both the X-Men and Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers, whose core members usually are Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. The Avengers’ lineup varies wildly, with a roster of dozens of reserve members as […]